The effectiveness of self-regulation interventions for increasing cognitive and social-emotional functioning of preschool-aged children : a systematic review.
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Abstract
The preschool period is an important time for the development of self-regulation. Various interventions and programs have been developed to improve pre-schoolers’ self-regulation. A systematic review of self-regulation interventions was conducted to examine the effectiveness of these interventions for improving both social-emotional and cognitive aspects of preschool-aged children’s self-regulation. The review also aimed to investigate any specific intervention effects for different types of self-regulation interventions. A systematic review of the literature within PsycINFO, MEDLINE, Scopus, and Education Source databases was conducted. Studies were included in the review if they were randomised control trials, had participants between the ages of two and six, the intervention was conducted by parents or teachers, and the study assessed cognitive or social-emotional aspects of self-regulation pre- and post-intervention. A total of thirty-seven studies were included in this review. Results indicated that interventions could effectively improve both social-emotional and cognitive aspects of pre-schoolers’ self-regulation. Parenting programs, play-based interventions and multi-method interventions appeared to be most effective in promoting children’s self- regulation. These findings have implications for parents and educators of preschool-aged children and for future developers of self-regulation interventions.